Whitney students want to be ‘MADE’

Lauren Gibbs/ The Placer HeraldApproximately 30 Whitney High students auditioned for MTV’s show “MADE” last Tuesday with hopes of making their dreams come true.

Lauren Gibbs/ The Placer HeraldWhitney High School senior Levi Webster recently auditioned for MTV’s show “MADE.” Webster auditioned to be transformed into a cage fighter.

Levi Webster wants to be transformed into a cage fighter.
Webster, a senior at Whitney High School, was one of about 30 students at Whitney High who auditioned for MTV’s show “MADE.” “MADE” helps bring teens’ sometimes seemingly impossible dreams to reality. The show has helped renovate girly-girls into dirt-bike racers, tomboys into beauty queens and football players into dancers.
For Webster, his motivation for wanting to learn the thrill of cage fighting is self defense.
“People say I’m all talk, not aggressive,” he said. “A couple of people at schools want to teach me a lesson. I have a lot of enemies at the school.”
As a senior, Webster will be packing up and moving to Hollywood this summer to attend the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. He has big plans to open his own clothing store and also has a background in professional dance. But his current task he wants to tackle is cage fighting, a type of mixed martial arts. Another added bonus of appearing on “MADE” is the fame, he said.
“I want to be famous so bad,” Webster said.
Overcoming a fear seemed to be the motivating factor for many of the students who tried out for the show, including sophomore Emma Smith.
Smith wants to be made into what she calls an “extreme survivalist.”
“I need to survive in the wild,” she said.
Smith said she relies too much on technology on a daily basis and it would be hard to leave that behind. Her family enjoys outdoor recreation, but she’s only been camping once, she said. Smith said she also hopes to conqueror her fear of wildlife – snakes, spiders and birds – by becoming an extreme survivalist.
Junior Marisa Sievers wants to become a dirt-bike racer – a switch from her “girly” reputation. She said she always has her hair and makeup done.
“I would rather be late to school than come to school without makeup on,” she said.
Her brother rides dirt bikes but Sievers said she’s never ridden partially because of the speed of the bike. Her motive behind wanting to learn is to prove to herself that she can do it, she said.
“I want to overcome my fears,” Sievers said.
Christina Gorman, a junior at Whitney High, also wants to overcome a fear she has of driving fast, by becoming a drag car racer.
“I don’t like driving on the freeway because it’s fast and I get claustrophobic,” she said. “If I can do this, I shouldn’t be such a wimp to drive on the freeway.”
Jason Feuerbach, the activities director at Whitney High, said MTV producers approached him with the idea of holding auditions at the school. Having never heard of the show, Feuerbach said he researched the program and saw the positive message – helping dreams come true – and agreed. Auditions took place last Tuesday at Whitney High.